Viewing photographs immediately raises the question of who or what we see and where the picture was taken. The images of Ester Vonplon overcome this reflex, most recently in a series whose subjects are a deserted nature free of artifacts. The photographs show snow or salt in horizontal shots. They are reminiscent of early experiments in abstraction in photography, and radiate a meditative form and content in white monochromy.

Vonplon has consistently developed this abstraction in her new work. Contact sheets of her photographs, which she has taken in the Arctic, among other places, have been directly edited. Despite the figurative basis of photography, one can now speak of non-figurative pictures. Formal and substantive certainties no longer exist. Similar to color field painting, observers immerse themselves in color spaces. They have to rely on their own perception; to see now means to discover. —edition fink

Note: book cover image varies.